Branch Officer Ballot Update
At the branch Annual General Meeting on the 9th February 2010, four branch officer posts (Health & Safety Officer, Herts & Essex Divisional Secretary, Cambridgeshire County Lead and Norfolk County H&S Lead) attracted more than one nomination.
The branch rules state that in the event of more than one person being nominated, election to that post will be determined by way of a ballot of members who fall within the geographical workplace remit for that specific post.
Therefore every full, current branch member, as listed on our regional membership records, was sent a ballot paper for the Health & Safety Officer role and, in addition to this, any members working within the Herts & Essex, Cambridgeshire or Norfolk localities were also sent a separate ballot form for the post specific to that area.
1564 envelopes were posted to member’s home addresses over successive days in batches of 250 at a time but due to an administrative error on my part it soon became obvious that an extension to the originally specified ballot deadline of Friday 2nd April 2010 would be required. Having sought the agreement of those nominated for the posts, this deadline was extended to Friday 9th April 2010 and a letter detailing this was sent by e-mail to the branch committee, county and local reps for cascading onto their local membership. The revised date was also written across the seal on the rear of all envelopes posted from that point onwards.
Of the total number of envelopes sent out, only 250 would not have had the new deadline date written on them due to their having been posted just before the need for a deadline extension had been identified and agreed. Therefore members receiving these envelopes would have justifiably felt that there was little point in participating in this process as their papers would not arrive by the (original) date specified on the form.
As a result of the deadline issue, concerns were raised in respect to the integrity of the ballot itself and further, urgent discussion was required to consider how best to resolve this matter which unfortunately meant that the ballot outcomes are currently unavailable. However, in a bid to keep the membership informed, updates will be provided here on the branch website as well as via any other communication mediums we have at our disposal (i.e. mail shots/posters etc)
The branch wishes to thank the membership for their patience and understanding to date as regards this matter and would welcome their continued support whilst we seek to resolve this issue.
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